25 Health benefits of honey you never knew
Health benefits of honey are countless. Honey has been used for treating various ailments in the traditional medical systems like Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani. It also helps in prevention of various ailments and keeps our body fit and fine.
Honey is made by honeybees which collect the nectar from the flowers. It is as sweet as sugar and it contains glucose and fructose which impart sweetness to it. Honey is used throughout the world. It has been used by people from several thousands of years. It will further be used for many thousands of years.
Honey nutrition facts:
Honey is high in calories. 100 grams of honey contains 300 kcal of energy. It has absolutely no fat at all. So, you won’t gain weight or abnormal cholesterol by eating honey. It is rich in various vitamins like riboflavin or vitamin B2, Niacin or vitamin B3, Pantothenic acid or vitamin B5, Pyridoxine or vitamin B6, folate or vitamin B9 and also vitamin C.
Honey is also rich in many essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, sodium and also zinc. All the constituents of honey are absolutely essential for our body.
Types of honey:
Let us see some of the most important types of honey available in the market:
1. Wildflower honey
2. Manuka honey
3. Blueberry honey
4. Buckwheat honey
5. Orange blossom honey
6. Alfalfa honey
7. Locust honey
Health benefits of honey:
1. Honey for wounds and abrasions:
Honey is an effective natural remedy for the treatment of wounds and abrasions. You can apply honey over minor wounds and abrasions to help heal them faster. Honey also reduces the pain caused by the wounds.
In some places, honey is also used to heal post-surgical wounds. The wound healing and burns healing property of honey are mainly attributed to its antibacterial properties.
Nowadays many bacteria are becoming resistant to the antibiotics and many antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria are on the rise. This has made prescribing antibiotics to seriously hospitalized patients a big challenge for the Physicians. So, scientists are studying the antimicrobial properties of honey, so that it can be used in place of antibiotics.
2. Honey for burns:
Studies have proven that honey is very beneficial when used over partial thickness burns, which involve only superficial layers of the skin. Scientists also believe that honey is more beneficial than conventional creams like silver sulfadiazine which are used to treat burns.
Just apply raw honey over the minor burns several times a day, at least 3 to 4 times a day for quick relief from burns. Burns lead to loss of skin over the body. These burns can get easily infected by bacteria and that bacteria can even spread to our blood. Honey gets rid of all the microbes on the skin like bacteria and fungi and prevents infection of the burns.
3. Honey for cough:
The health benefits of honey for cough treatment cannot be undermined. Honey is very effective in relieving cough, cold and sore throat. It provides a soothing effect on the irritated membranes of the throat.
Studies have concluded that honey is equally effective as an active ingredient of cough syrups called dextromethorphan. Honey is more effective than an antihistaminic usually prescribed for cold called diphenhydramine.
In order to get rid of a cough, cold and sore throat, just warm up some water. Add 2 spoons of honey, juice of 1 lemon, some grated ginger to it and drink. Drink this honey, lemon, ginger juice 2 to 3 times a day. Lemon and ginger enhance the health benefits of honey for cough and cold reduction.
4. Honey has antibacterial properties:
Honey contains many substances capable of inhibiting the growth or bacteria or even completely killing them. Defensin is one such ingredient in honey which kills bacteria. Honey has antibacterial activity against many dreadful bacteria like MRSA or methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, Enterococci, and streptococcus.
If you consume honey regularly as a part of your diet, you can ward off various diseases. Try to include honey as much as possible in your diet.
5. Rich in antioxidants:
Honey is rich in vitamin C and flavonoids which are antioxidants. These antioxidants fight the free radicals very efficiently. Free radicals are very harmful to our health. They lead to aging at an early age, development of wrinkles, fine lines, age spots, etc. Free radicals also damage our heart and can also lead to cancer.
The antioxidants in honey help in preventing cancers and heart diseases. They also prevent aging fast. Honey helps in getting rid of wrinkles, age spots, and fine lines.
6. Honey for skin health:
Honey is very beneficial for our skin. It can help us get rid of acne very fast. Just apply raw honey over your acne or pimples. Wait for 10 to 15 minutes and then rinse your face. If you follow this regularly at least twice a week, you will no longer suffer from pimples after few months. The antibacterial properties of honey are mainly responsible for curing acne.
Honey can be used as a very good moisturizer for our skin. It hydrates and moisturizes the skin. Make honey a part of your face mask or face pack to benefit from its moisturizing effects. Honey also helps in fading the scars on your face due to its bleaching properties.
7. Honey for hair:
You can use honey for hair in various ways. You can mix 2 spoons of honey with 2 spoons of olive oil to prepare honey hair mask. Apply this honey hair mask to your scalp and hair nad massage well. Then warm a towel and cover it over your head to enhance proper penetration of the nutrients of honey and olive oil.
Then rinse off your hair after 20 minutes. You will notice that your hair has become very soft and manageable. Honey is a very good hair conditioner. You can also use honey as a hair lightener mainly due to its bleaching effect.
Make a mixture of 1 spoon of raw honey, 5 spoons of distilled water and 1.5 spoons of cinnamon powder and apply it as a hair mask and then rinse off. If you use this hair mask for few weeks, you will notice that your hair becomes lighter due to bleaching effect of honey.
8. Honey lemon hair removal:
Honey, lemon and sugar act as a very good hair removal agent. Mix 1 spoon of honey, 1 spoon of lemon juice and 4 spoons of sugar. Then place this mixture over a low flame on stovetop and heat until the sugar melts completely and bubbles start coming. Switch off the flame and allow the mixture to cool down.
Then apply this honey lemon hair removal mixture and pull off the hair with hair removal strips. This mixture makes your skin very moist and soft after the hair removal.
9. Health benefits of Honey for psoriasis:
The health benefits of raw honey for treating skin diseases like psoriasis are very well known and practiced by many Ayurvedic physicians. Just apply some Manuka honey over the skin lesions caused by psoriasis. Wait for 15 to 20 minutes and wash your skin with lukewarm water.
If you follow this remedy regularly, you will notice a reduction in the intensity of your psoriasis lesions due to the anti-inflammatory properties of honey. In addition to psoriasis, honey can also help you with treating skin conditions like rosacea and eczema.
10. Honey for dark circles:
The benefits of honey for controlling dark circles is mainly due to its bleaching properties. Apply raw honey over your dark circles and massage well. Then wait for 10 minutes and rinse off with warm water. Follow this remedy twice a week for good results.
11. Powerhouse of energy:
Honey is a powerhouse of energy. In addition to numerous health benefits of honey, it is rich in calories and provides energy to us when we need it the most. Sometimes we tend to work a lot and are exhausted. We need to make ourselves active by having some energy boosting food.
But, if we snack on any chocolate or any junk food, we gain weight and this irks us a lot. But, honey has zero cholesterol levels. So, just take few spoons of raw honey and drink it for an instant energy boost. You can even mix some honey and lemon juice in water and drink it as an energy drink.
12. Honey for diabetes:
Generally, people believe that honey should not be used by diabetic people. On the contrary, honey is highly beneficial for diabetics people. Honey is a food with low glycemic index. It tends to raise our blood sugar levels very slowly. Sugar leads to a quick rise of blood sugar levels and it cannot be controlled by insulin in people suffering from diabetes.
There are many other health benefits of honey in addition to being a good food for diabetic people. It has ample nutrients like vitamins and minerals which are very beneficial for the health.
13. Honey for athletes:
Many athletes eat honey to sustain their energy levels. This is a secret that many people are not aware of. Athletes require a lot of energy to perform in their favorite sport. They need sustained levels of energy for prolonged periods.
Honey has both glucose and fructose. Glucose meets the immediate energy requirements of the athletes, while fructose helps them to get energy for prolonged periods of time as it gives energy slowly. In addition to boosting energy, honey also helps the athletes in getting rid of fatigue and sore muscles. Any person who is into active athletics should definitely eat honey.
14. Honey as probiotic:
Honey has many helpful bacteria like lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. They help in the growth of helpful bacteria in our intestines and curb the growth of harmful bacteria. Due to its high levels of helpful bacteria, honey acts like a probiotic.
Nowadays probiotics are being sold in the market like Enterogermina, etc to treat various conditions like lactose intolerance, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, antibiotic-induced diarrhea, etc. Honey is a natural probiotic and using honey regularly prevents various diseases.
15. Honey for nails:
Yes, you have heard me right. Honey helps to condition your nails as well. Just mix some honey with equal amount of apple cider vinegar. Then massage this mixture over your nails and the skin surrounding it.
Wait for some time and then rinse off with warm water. Honey conditions the nails and also the skin surrounding the nails. It makes the skin around nails and also the nails very smooth and soft.
16. Health benefits of honey for digestion:
Honey is a very good stimulant of the digestive system. It enhances the digestion process in our body and gets rid of any indigestion problems you have in a jiffy.
Honey helps in controlling the excess acidity levels in our stomach and helps you to get rid of gastritis. In fact, the anti-inflammatory properties of honey help to heal peptic or gastric ulcers. Honey also kills the bacteria like Helicobacter pylori which lead to gastric ulcers.
17. Honey for soft lips:
Every woman wants to have lovely pink, soft lips. But, sometimes our lips become very hard and chapped due to various reasons. Honey can help us solve all of our lip maladies.
Apply a mixture of some honey, sugar and lemon juice over the lips and massage well. Then wait for some time and wash your lips. This honey lemon sugar mixture serves as an excellent lip scrub. It removes all the dead skin cells from our lips. Honey makes our lips moist, soft and pink.
18. Honey for insomnia:
Health benefits of honey for insomnia are known to people for ages. Insomnia appears to be a simple word, but it troubles the people suffering from it a lot. People with insomnia wake up in the middle of the night or won’t sleep at all.
This makes the person with insomnia extremely restless and tired in the morning. They won’t feel fresh at all. They won’t be able to concentrate on anything due to extreme fatigue and restlessness. Honey can do wonders for such people.
Such mix a spoon or 2 spoons of honey with warm milk and drink it at night before going to bed. Both honey and milk contain tryptophan. Tryptophan is a sleep inducing food. It helps to calm down your brain and put you to sleep. This honey milk will cure insomnia for sure.
Honey helps in the formation of serotonin in the body. Serotonin gets converted to a substance called melatonin. Sufficient levels of melatonin are absolutely essential for getting proper sleep.
19. Honey for razor bumps:
Sometimes we develop bumps or cuts over the skin after shaving any part of our body. This hurts a lot. Honey helps us with razor bumps. Just apply some raw honey over the razor bumps and wait for some time. Then rinse your skin.
Honey has a soothing effect on the skin and it relieves the pain, burning and itching of the razor bumps. These health benefits of honey are mainly due to its anti-inflammatory properties.
20. Honey for weight loss:
Health benefits of honey for weight loss are innumerable. Honey metabolizes the stored fat in the body and helps in weight reduction. Accumulation of various toxins in the body also leads to weight gain. Honey removes all the toxins out of the body and detoxifies our body. This aids in very effective weight loss.
Mix 1 spoon of honey, juice of 1 lemon in 1 glass of warm water. Drink it daily on an empty stomach. This helps you to lose weight very fast. Follow this along with some form of exercise for better results at weight loss.
21. Health benefits of Honey for immunity:
Health benefits of honey for boosting immunity are very well researched. People who consume honey regularly have higher immunity levels in contrast to their peers who never use honey. Honey has many compounds which act as antibacterial agents. They also kill various other microbes like fungi which contribute to the immunity boosting effect of honey.
22. Honey and heart health:
Honey has many antioxidants which prevent the development of heart diseases. It has polyphonic antioxidants which are absolutely helpful for the heart. Honey also has substances which reduce the levels of cholesterol in the body.
High levels of cholesterol lead to the development of atherosclerotic plaques which ultimately lead to heart diseases like myocardial infarction or heart attack. Lowering the levels of cholesterol and antioxidant properties are the 2 strong pillars of honey to assist in the health benefits of honey for heart health.
23. Health benefits of Honey for dandruff:
Dandruff is a very irritating problem. We feel very embarrassed to see the scales or flakes of dandruff when we are in some party or function wearing our favorite dress.
Honey can solve our dandruff issues too. Just dilute honey with some water and apply it over the scalp and hair and leave for some time about 30 minutes. Then rinse your hair with lukewarm water. Honey gets rid of all the flakes of skin over the scalp due to its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. It even makes your hair shine and become long and healthy.
24. Health benefits of Honey as a sunscreen:
Exposure to the sun and environmental pollution can take a toll on our skin. The harmful rays like UV rays or ultraviolet rays damage our skin very adversely. Excess sun exposure leads to suntan, darkening of the skin, etc. Honey can be used as a very good sunscreen to protect our skin from harmful effects of the sun.
25. Health benefits of Honey for anemia:
Honey is rich in iron which makes it an excellent food for people suffering from anemia. Iron deficiency leads to reduced hemoglobin levels, which is called iron deficiency anemia. Anemia makes a person extremely tired, fatigued and he might even develop difficulty in breathing. If very severe, anemia leads to heart failure.
If you use honey regularly, you will no longer suffer from anemia. Even if you already have anemia, try to consume honey regularly as this will improve hemoglobin levels and alleviate anemia symptoms.
Some Tips and precautions for using honey:
1. Honey can sometimes contain spores of a bacteria called clostridium botulinum in a dormant state. They can get activated in people with weak immune system and also in babies due to their low immunity levels. So, people suffering from immunocompromised conditions, using immunosuppressant drugs for various reasons and also babies less than 1 year of age should avoid taking honey.
2. Eat only 3 to 4 spoons of honey daily and not more than it. Too much of anything is not good for health.
3. Always try to find natural, organic and raw honey. The health benefits of honey of this type are very high.
